designed by Carl T
Texas Seesaw Massacre
Two Improvisers doing 2prov and playing folk music. Hailing from Brooklyn and Queens. Neither one of us are from Texas. What! It’s a pun! One of us is from Georgia, one from Minnesota. Guess which!
Follow us on Instagram.
Armory Improv House Team: No Shots
Come to the Tank every Friday night to see the tasty little comedic stylings of the Armory House Teams! It’s every Friday. It’s pay-what-you-can. You can take an elevator. Come on, sweetheart. Suck on this straw! Drink it down! Never say die!!!!
Follow us on Instagram.
Hell Yeah! Musical Improv
Hell Yeah! is a group of weirdos I used to hang out with who love the Hohner Clavinet 6D and also love Gatorade bottles full of urine. Oh! and they also love making up full length musicals completely on the spot! They have a monthly show at the People’s Improv Theater in Manhattan.
Follow them on Instagram
designed by Carl T
photo credit: Joe Iano, Johan Liedgren
This Show Is About Progress
Mona and her brother grieve after the loss of their mother through imaginary worlds. The world that emerges from Mona’s mind is a desert that takes over their living room. This show was written to be performed in a house in Seattle scheduled for demolition. We were kicked out of that house by the developers. Our genius set designer build a house in BASE Experimental Arts+Space and filled it with garbage and sand. Thank you BASE. Many amazing human people worked hard on this show. Thank you amazing human people. We had a blast. Check out my blog post about it in the Writings tab.
New Day Rising
‘Tell me about the dream where we pull the bodies out of the lake and dress them in warm clothes again.' Is a quote from Richard Silken. Prompted by this chilling line of poetry, Tom Spangenberg's New Day Rising is a dystopian solo show exploring how we cope with trauma, accept ourselves, and find redemption. Performed at 18th and Union. Written and performed by Tom Spangenberg. Directed and Costume Design by Carol Louise Thompson. Poster art by Shan Miller.
photo credit: Andrew Buffelen
A Christmas Carol Thompson
An immersive, evening-length performance centered around the inimitable Mx. Scrooge, self-love, and the rebirth of forgiveness. What would happen if you were given the gift of attending your own funeral in advance? This performance took place in a private home and bathtub in Seattle. There was face painting and spirits culminating in a final ceremony in the backyard under a tent and the rainy skies. This was a collaboration with Kathryn Farrell. You can find her music here. Merry Christmas every one!
Fancy Cafeteria Musical Improv
Seattle’s premiere musical improv experience. I am no longer with them because I moved away, but they still make long-form, improvised musicals with dancing and everything. Sometimes dragons. Follow them on Instagram.
photo credit: Sidney Rakowiecki
God and Other Characters
Short solo show exploring an experience on the bus. When the sun shines through a window. When a stranger looks at you. When you search the universe for meaning. Performed at the Solo Performance Festival in Seattle.
Pongo Teen Writing
Carol was the Assistant Site Lead for Pongo Teen Writing’s poetry project in the King County Juvenile Detention Center. Pongo Poetry Project is a volunteer, nonprofit effort with Seattle teens who are in jail, on the streets, or in other ways leading difficult lives. Pongo helps these young people express themselves through poetry and other forms of writing.
Orion Out Loud/The Platform
Carol helped found The Platform, an annual playwriting festival for unhoused young people and others utilizing services at the James W Ray Orion Center in the Denny Triangle neighborhood of Seattle. The Platform consisted of one festival of short pieces written during an informal class held during drop-in hours and a more in depth workshop production of longer pieces where the playwrights were paid. This was funded by a grant from the Office of Arts and Culture. Mx. Thompson was a writing mentor and lead grant writer. This project has ended.